No reduction in medicine prices; govt fails to act
Thiruvananthapuram: The reduction in price of essential medicines as part of the new drug policy is not reflected in the market. In majority medical stores, drugs are sold in older prices without any bill. The drug companies are trying to sell medicines in market with the silent support of the government. The state government has not taken any step to curb this. Though the drugs control section held searches at wholesale depots in Ernakulam, Thrissur and Kozhikode, no action was taken. Drugs controller P Hariprasad said that directions have been given to sell off the present stock at reduced price to retailers.
The government claim is that 90 % of the drugs which are aimed to be sold for lesser prices are with wholesalers and though the sticker of price tag for lesser price is not fixed, medicines can’t be sold at reduced price. But the sellers are adamant they will not sell for lesser price till there is sticker on the medicines.
Retailers complained they haven’t received medicines at discounted price and wholesalers are not ready to take back the available stock. The wholesalers and drug companies are even not ready to give a list of medicines that come under lesser price, they alleged.
The Government is also not ready to hold searches in sales outlets selling medicines at older prices and without bill. The government is of the stand that if retailers are miffed, that will result in scarcity of medicines. .
As per the order issued by National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, the price of 348 medicines will decline by 30 to 60 %. The direction on this was issued on May 15 and it was announced it would come into effect within 45 days.
Related Posts via Categories
Categories: News